Last Night at the Open

It was a beautiful night, quite cool for NYC, and the 7 train out to Flushing Meadows was not so bad: we got seats and the car was air conditioned! Also, we caught the express which is much much better than the local, my friends. All of this is important, because a good start is always important to any evening. We then joined the throng of humanity as it attempted to enter the Bille Jean King Tennis Center. My husband had a bag and as we joined the "have a bag line" we started to worry his bag would be one of the bags that get people sent way far to a different throng of persons called the "bag check". Again, we got lucky, and they let him and his bag through. Because of our fortunate train experience, we were there nice and early. We headed straight to the back courts and watched the amazingly unique Bartoli play against super-buff, mainly doubles-specialist, Ruano Pascual. Watching Bartoli up close like that- man, it is so different than TV! Her raquet has an extra long neck/handle which is useful since she is tow-handed on both sides. But her control! It is so discernable up close like last night, to see her distinct control, which gives her not only the ability to hit amazing angles, but also these flat hard down the line shots.

Then we went to Arthur Ashe Stadium. Our seats were 7 or 8 rows up in the corner! Awesome. I had never seen Lindsay play (I mostly go to mens' events) and I love Lindsay and so enjoyed seeing her up close like that. But, her moodiness! She would play a great game, hitting deep and hard, serves and groudnstrokes, breaking her opponent, the also hard hitting youngster, Klebasnova (sp?), and then she'd play a really lose game, spraying balls, double-faulting, getting grumpy. What gives? Get it together woman! I mean, as if I could ever play tennis nearly as well as she, but still. It's as if her mental focus comes and goes. It was interesting to see. She commented that she needs to "play better", but I think it's all between the ears for Lindsay. Also, in real life, as opposed to TV, she actually covers the court well! I know she's not known for being the best "mover", but I was super impressed. That match was fun.

Then came the ass whomp of Roddick v. Santoro. Roddick's serving was fun to see. I have seen it before, this summer in Canada for instance, but it is always a revelation. But the match was lop-sided. And at the end, when Santoro stopped even trying to return? That was painful end. Just not fun to see. I would venture to say that it was "unprofessional", but maybe I'm being to hard on him. It cannot be fun to lose so badly and nearly get brained by Roddick's serve, and have the whole audience against you. Still, he' s a veteran, to put it mildly. I wish he hadn't behaved that way on the last point.


Now back to the TV today.

Yours Truly,
Paula